Bowling Shoes
by everyone'sfavoritenerd
Summary: Lily is going to marry the love of her life, but she can't manage to take that first step down the aisle. She flees the church and Sirius tries to find her. Summary bites. T because I'm paranoid.


**A/N**: Hi Everyone! So Happy New Year! I got this idea a few weeks ago. Basically it came about by me throwing a bunch of random items into a mix and somehow coming up with a plot for them. I hope you like it.

**Disclaimer: **Nope, not at all. Now stop bugging me and read the story.

*Lily POV*

One by one, my friends file out the door, giving me parting glances and happy smiles. I'll see them again in a few minutes.

I take a deep breath…and another…and another.

_Great, _now I'm hyperventilating. _Facing Death Eaters is no problem, walking twenty feet to say "I do" to the man of your dreams, the love of your life -__**SHUT UP!**_I am arguing with myself, and quite possibly losing.

_I hope James knows what he got himself into. _

"James," I sigh. He's my everything, I love him with all of my heart, and I want so badly to be his wife, but I need to be able to take that first step down the aisle. Every step after that would be too slow and too far away from him.

I hear music, the bridesmaids' song. The notes drift into my little preparation room. At this point, Emmeline would be walking.

I have to go. I pull the high heels onto my feet and step out of the room. By my count, Alice would be heading up the aisle now.

After another measure I know that Marlene has just begun her walk.

Mere seconds later, my cue comes and that little tune cracks me. I don't go to Remus, who would be waiting to escort me. I don't think of James expecting me. I can't help myself. I sprint full on out of the little church doors.

*Sirius POV*

_Merlin, what the hell was that woman thinking? _ I do an about face and walk back across the floor. James looks up from his little spot on the steps at the head of his church. He pulls his head from his hands. "Pads, your pacing isn't helping anyone."

"That little-"

"Sirius," Remus warns me.

_Right, Prongs' fiancée._ I shut my eyes scratching the back of my neck.

"Moony, you stay here. Help with the erm… emotional stuff." I cast look at James. "Pete, you too. I'll go find Lily."

Remus raises an eyebrow at me, but doesn't say anything against my plans. I start running out of the building.

_Where the bloody hell could she be?_

Suddenly, the light bulb turns on in my head. I never really got that before now. I apparate away.

*Lily POV*

People look at me strangely.

_Why shouldn't they?_ I suppose I look odd, clutching my long white skirts in my hands, darting through the town in my heels.

I get to the bowling alley before I even realize that's where I'm headed. I run straight through the open doors, glad for the familiar air on my skin. I slow suddenly.

I walk past the arcade games on the carpet, headed straight for the wooden lanes. Some kid shouts to me, "Hey! You can't go up there without proper shoes!"

The glare I send him shuts him up pretty quickly.

_Poor kid, he's just trying to do his job._

Nonetheless, I climb up the steps and throw myself into the nearest booth.

Out of breath, I put my heads into my hands, "What the hell am I doing?" I sigh to myself.

Suddenly, a new voice appears, "Well, that's my question, Evans."

I look up, "Sirius?" He is standing on the carpeted floor below, looking at me. He steps up and sits down next to me.

"Oh come on!" The worker yells. A withering glare from Sirius quickly quiets his second protest.

_Rough day._ I look at Sirius, sitting to my side.

*Sirius POV*

"How'd you find me?" She asks.

I snort, "It wasn't easy Lily-flower. Merlin, woman, you know how to disappear. Anyways, I was thinking about how badly I'd had liked to get drunk just then." She looks at me obviously not impressed.

"And then I thought about how you talk a lot when you drink. There was one night, in seventh year, after you know…"

"I know," she adds quietly, looking down.

I swallow, _bad idea to bring up her dead parents._

"Get to the point, Black." She snaps.

I know that tone, its one she used when she was mad at James. _Really bad idea. _

"Ahh, still feisty I see. Not the point…" I launch into my tale.

*Flashback*

There's a huge thump. No one else seems to hear it. I hop out of my bed. "Nice story Prongs, I'll be right back."

The guys say something, but I don't hear it. I run downstairs to the common room. I rush to the stumbling girl. "Alright there…Evans?"

She picks herself up off of the floor. "Bloody perfect, Sirius. Hmm, Sirius, ironic name that is for you. At least pronunciation wise, because you're not in the least bit serious. But for the consellation-"

"Lily," I cut her off, "Are you drunk?"

She gives me a huge grin. "Yep. Isn't it wonderful? I figured that my day was bad enough that I deserved a firewhiskey or two…or six." I put my hands on her shoulders.

"What happened Lily?" I resist the need to shake her, knock some sense into her.

She slurs her speaking. "My parents are dead. Death Eaters. Dumbledore told me. And then a few hours later I get a letter from my sister. 'Bout how she hates me and how its all my fault they died. I think that she's still mad at me for coming to Hogwarts. She was jealous you know. Anyway, her letter was very mean, she cut all ties with me. She called me a freak a lot. I remember when we were a happy family. She was my best friend, we were practically twins. We used to go everywhere together. There was this one bowling place in town. We all went there every week. I considered the owners my family. I think they're dead now. Everyone's dead because of me."

I shake my head and hug her close.

*End Flashback*

*Lily POV*

"Oh."

"Yeah."

I look down, "Sorry to get so depressing."

He shrugs, "You deserved to. You had a rough time, and I'm glad I helped you that night, or else we might not be here now." We sit in silence now.

"Lily," he looks at me.

_Uh-oh, he never calls me Lily._ "Do you love James?"

"Of course I do."

"Then why are you here, now, instead of being at your wedding?"

I close my eyes and sigh, "Sirius, I'm scared."

"Uh, yeah. We're in a war, that's okay."

"No, not like that. Whenever I remember my family, I remember how happy we were. The way my parents were so in love you could see it in the way they looked at each other. And the way Petunia and I were inseparable. But then I realized that I screwed it up, that I threw it all away. I don't want to do that. James deserves the best, and I want to be his wife. But I worry that I'll mess that up too, that I'll be a horrible wife, a terrible mother. I can't do that, no matter how badly I want to be a good person for-"

Sirius cuts me off. "Is that all your worried about, Lily-flower?"

*Sirius POV*

_It's just nerves. Merlin's sweaty sock, all of this because she's nervous about being a wife. Prongs' wife for that matter. _"Lils, trust me. I lived with James for more than seven years. No matter what you do, he will always love you. He's been bloody obsessed with you forever. And I did not put up with all of that for you to break his girly, emotional little heart over a case of cold feet."

She glares at me. "I think you'll be a great wife, you can't do anything wrong in his eyes. And you yell enough for the yelling thing down, so the mother thing is no problem. Wait a second…"

I look at her, and then at her flat stomach, "Are you preggers?"

She laughs. "Yes, Black, I'm pregnant."

"It's James' right?" She rolls her eyes and swats at my head.

"Freakin' duh, Sirius."

"Does he know?"

"Not yet." I look at her in shock.

"So I know about the kid before he does. That's bloody awesome!"

I grin at her, then I lower my face to her stomach. "Hey, kid… No, that doesn't sound right. Prongslet! That's good, Prongslet. So Prongslet, I'm Sirius Black, you can call me Padfoot though, I'm your future godfather. Don't look at me like that Lily-flower, I called dibs a long time ago. And I am once again handling your parents, who are insane. Merlin help you, Prongslet. Anyways, I know about you before your daddy, but I know about a lot of things before him, he's a bit on the slow side. So, this is going to be our little secret. I would love to talk to you some more about Quidditch and Hogwarts and Firewhiskey but your mommy is looking angry, which is really scary. So I'm going to try and convince her to go back to her wedding now, before your daddy starts freaking out so, yeah. Bye Prongslet!"

Lily groans, "Was it really necessary to yell, Black. Now everyone's staring."

"They were already staring. You're in a wedding dress and I'm incredibly handsome." I wink at one of the girls in the alley.

"She's half your age!"

"Is not, Evans."

"I'm not going to argue with you."

"Fine, how about you get your little preggo but back to the place with all of the seats then."

"Church?"

"Yeah, that!"

She sighs. "Can we play one round?"

I look at the complicated game and take a deep breath, like the flower does sometime, "One game."

*Lily POV*

I end up having to drag Sirius out of the alley. "Come on, Black."

"But it's so much fun!" He protests.

I'm sure we must be a sight in our formal wear, me pulling along a man much larger than myself. "Wedding?"

"Oh, right, just one second." He holds his pointer finger up and I stand still, releasing him. I rap my foot on the ground as he walks up to the counter.

He speaks to the boy, who for some reason says, "Now?"

Then Sirius turns back to me, proudly brandishing a pair of navy bowling shoes.

"What are you doing with those and how did you pay for them?"

"Put them on." He answers neither of my questions.

"Why?"

"Something old and something blue and something borrowed if you want to think about it that way. That's something you birds are always going on about, right?"

I nod, stunned. "This way you have part of your old family as part of your new family."

I'm nearly crying. I take the shoes from him and kick off the heels, dropping about three inches. I hand him my old shoes. He looks at them curiously, "How do you walk in these?"

"Magic." I pull the flat shoes onto my bare feet.

He nods at me and we apparate to behind the church. He picks me up and carries me into the building. I glare at him, "I'm not letting you run away again. James would kill me."

I roll my eyes.

At the end of the aisle I stand out of view while Sirius calls down the length of the church.

"Moons," he starts as a whisper.

"Hey, Remus," his volume increases.

Then he flat out yells. "MOONY!" He attracts the attention of everyone. "Found her."

People return to their seats and Sirius waits until Remus takes my arm before sprinting down the aisle to stand by James' side.

"Here Comes the Bride" starts and Remus walks me down to James. After the first step, it's Remus who keeps me at a steady pace and not running down to my fiancé.

The ceremony goes beautifully. The reception goes off without a hitch. I do have to yell at Sirius during his best man speech because he's not exactly in full control about his mental devices.

A year later, the blue bowling shoes sit on top of the fireplace mantel, where I can see them everyday.

**A/N:** Review, pretty please?


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